Iraq and Bush's foreign policy

August 6, 1992

Regarding the Opinion page article "Bush's Policy on Saddam Was Right," July 27: The author carefully ignores what does not fit his case, such as the differences between Kuwait and Iraq over their borders; and Kuwait's exploitation of petroleum deposits along those borders is not of recent origin.

He also ignores the Iraqi conviction that Kuwait was created by Britain to block Iraq from the Gulf. Does the author not remember that in 1962, when Iraq mobilized its armed forces and threatened to invade Kuwait, Britain not only sent airplanes and troops, it also bluntly informed Iraq that it would defend Kuwait. Iraq then promptly backed down.

As a result, no one - let alone President George Bush and his secretary of state - should have been surprised by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 shortly after Mr. Bush's Ambassador to Iraq informed Saddam that the United States had no position on territorial disputes between Arab countries. Joseph R. Barager, Canandaigua, N.Y.

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